


Fertility

by crueltyland



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Babies, Birth, Dwarrow, Dwarves, Dwobbit, Erebor, F/M, Gen, Hobbit, Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-13
Updated: 2015-04-13
Packaged: 2018-03-22 15:35:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3734155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crueltyland/pseuds/crueltyland
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dwarven birth rates are so low, but hobbits are so high. Something must be wrong, Bilba thinks. Not least because of the worrying looks she gets from the company on their travels. Maybe she can do something to help, and receive a blessing of her own.<br/>Just a short really :) hope you like!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fertility

it all started off oddly enough for Bilba. “Ahem,” Dori sidled up closer to her, his broad chest relieving some of the winds bite for a moment, “Miss Baggins? I dont mean to be crude, by any means, but do you have something for your ‘fertility’? Its just that i can smell the blood coming.” Bilba very nearly cried out, “I am certain that i do not know what you are talking about Master Dwarf! Good Day!”

Two days and goblin town, pinecones and Azog later, Bilba starts her monthlies, cursing the cramping in her stomach, upon the Carrock. Ori comes to her side quietly as they nestle down for the evening, “Bilba? Are you alright? Dori mentioned your ‘fertility’ was approaching before the goblins.” His face was pained. Bilba looked at him fondly, feeling more maternal by the day towards all three of the younger dwarrow. “I dont know about ‘fertility’ as you seem to be calling it, but my monthly has arrived, yes. Though i am quite prepared, thank you anyway Ori.” The dwarf furrowed his bushy brows in confusion, but nodded and let her be.

The next time it happened was in Thranduil’s dungeon. Balin grasped her arm on her visit, “Mistress Hobbit, are you sure you are being safe here? With your ‘fertility’, surely the elves can smell you as we can?” A grumbled agreement from the others reached her ears. Her little face burst into a bright red. “Master Balin! I would think that an upstanding Dwarrow, as i thought you were, would have more manners than to be so rude!” And with that, she stormed off, looking for a quiet corner to calm her shattered nerves. “Smell me indeed! Hmph!”

In the aftermath of the battle, amidst the death and confusion, a tiny hobbit walked, in agony, down from Ravenhill, to the tented healers. Round her waist was part of a cloak, the rest on the ground. Atop the cloak was a broken and bruised king. Bilba pushed onwards, ignoring the searing pain in her back and legs. “Its ok Thorin! Wake up my king, we are almost there!” The tears rolled down her face as she approached, seeing Dwalin standing strong and proud, and she collapsed.  
The blackness that enveloped her mind cleared to a mist, as the light from a lantern reached her eyes. She was on what felt like a mattress, on the floor, beside a bed. She stretched, wincing at the pain, and sat up. On the bed, looking much better than the almost dead, bloodied wreck before, sat Thorin Oakenshield, King Under The Mountain. “Bilba! Oh you Beautiful hobbit!!” He shouted, laughing. Suddenly the tent was flooded with the other dwarves of his company, looking slightly battered, but whole, and Gandalf, who merely smiled fondly. Oin approached and robbed her lower back. Bilba winced away, suddenly realising she wasn't wearing her cup. Her face flushed red again and the healer laughed. “Miss Baggins, if you think a little thing like ‘fertility’ would embarrass us, after you saved our king-” His words were cut off by sudden cheering as Fili and Kili tackled her, hugging her tightly and peppering her face and hair with kisses. She smiled, they were all ok. 

Thorin watched Bilba for the year following, as the kingdom was in repair. Dwalin elbowed him suddenly, announcing his presence to the silent monarch. “What is it this time Thorin?” He sighed. Thorin simply looked at him, “Dwarrowdams only get their fertility bleedings three, maybe four, times a year. So slim are the chances of conception, and yet, the hobbit gets them once a moon cycle.” Dwalin gasped, and Thorin continued. “And yet, she has sought out no mate, in fact, seems happy! Happy to just spend time with us, and is adamant that she will stay. It is distracting that when her fertility arrives i can smell her, no matter where i am, and it draws me to her, like a moth to a flame. I think she is my One.” Dwalin simply grunted, “Well, you best get to courting soon. There are other suitors, you know.”  
The king paced, waiting for an answer to the gift and letter he sent Bilba. A quiet knock on his chamber door snapped him out of his focus and he yanked it open, expecting a guard, and was suddenly shocked by finding a hobbit. “Oh Thorin! They’re beautiful!” She flung her arms around his neck and held her body to his own. He was very aware of standing in the doorway as his body reacted. “Bilba Baggins, formerly of the Shire, Hero of Erebor and Guardian of The Line of Durin, do you accept my offering of courtship?” She dropped her arms and smiled at him, not moving away, “Yes, my king. Nothing would bring me greater pleasure.” 

Thorin had argued with the hobbit so many times now, over how best to court, the length of the courtship and, of course the wedding. Finally they came to the arrangement that suited and after another year (frankly scandalous by Dwarven standards, and ridiculously long by hobbit tradition) they were wed.   
The wedding night completed their union and the morning after the consummation, Bilba hummed happily grinning and rubbing her stomach, just below the navel. Thorin watched, confused by the movement. “Ghivashel? What are you doing?” Bilba just looked at him, “I'm thinking about children, and after last night, i would hope that they wouldn't be long in coming!” She giggled, yet Thorins face fell. “My love, i would give you anything you desire, but your fertility did not so bless us, if you remember?” Bilba gawped. “I will have you know my fertility is just fine, thank you very- Hold on! The others mentioned fertility, when i had my- Thorin, how do dwarrow reproduce?”  
Thorin rushed with his bride to Oin, who sat listening and nodding and then wandered off, returning with an ancient looking book. “See, it says about the bleeding and the fertility! These facts are as old as the hills!” Bilba stamped her foot. “You silly dwarves! That book is bound the same as my books are! he ones i received from Legolas, from his fathers study! I do believe the treachery he wrought on dwarrow stems from deeper roots that you thought!”

Two months after their wedding, Thorin began to notice the swelling, low in Bilbas stomach. Her fertility had not come last moon, and it had failed again this time. He began to grow concerned at the change in her shape, when Gandalf arrived, carrying a chest and looking incredibly flustered. Thorin jumped from his throne and walked to greet the wizard who beamed at him an incredible smile. “King Thorin! Im not late am i? Shes not had them yet?” Thorin just raised an eyebrow. Gandalf sighed, “Take me to my burglar, if you please.”  
Bilba sat, smiling at the growing bump, in her garden below the royal wings terrace. Singing songs of the shire and surrounded by green growing things she carefully pressed feeling a lot more feet than expected. Twins and Triplets were common, but by the feeling, that was eight little feet, and eight little hands. She lay back on the grass and thanked Yavannah and Mahal for their bountiful blessings to her home. 

Thorin sat, still in shock, as Bilba and Gandalf chatted excitedly about children and pregnancy and Bilba suddenly giggled, and mentioned Oin, “And the book was referring ‘whelping’ and ‘fertility’ like in cattle! I think Thranduil had passed it on and thats whats wrong with the birthing figures! For Yavannas sake, a poor woman explained how they try while she bleeds, then abstain for two weeks after! Her face when i explained, i tell you Gandalf, you should have intervened!” Gandalf looked at the shaken King, “Thorin, is this correct? About the pairing of dwarrow?” Red faced the king nodded, “It seems a reeducation of the populace is in order.”

Three weeks after Bilba organised tea with every dwarrowdam in the mountain, Thorin began to notice the swell of her breasts and the roundness of her stomach more than he expected. Putting it down to the difference between hobbits and dwarves he moved on. She ran up to him and clapped her little hands. “Half Thorin! Half are already with child!!” The king collapsed, causing a rush of guards. His wife. His beautiful, wonderful, amazing wife. The first person to notice and care about them. The first person to help them. Mahals wife had surely made her just for him, to be the queen the dwarves deserved. Tears flowed from his eyes as the queen led the king to their chambers in silence.

Gandalf nodded politely, noting how many grinning dwarrow and pregnant dwarrowdams were in the market, as he guided a hobbit through. “Now, she thinks there may be four, though dwarves only carry one.” The hobbit nodded, carefully remaining at the wizards side. They walked to the royal chambers and were ushered in by an ashen guard. “My good Thorin, son of Dain! What on-” The guard cleared his throat, “Hobbits, your magicness, are terrifying things when carrying. She- She ate a raw rabbit, with cream cheese and dandelions! I dont know what to do! She is my aunt now, and i am to keep her safe, but what if she becomes ill with the things she is eating!” The hobbit beside gandalf laughed, “My dear boy! The mixture is not the problem! Each child desires a different taste is all!” She walked to the door and pushed it open. “Bilba! I heard you need a midwife!” “Prim!!”  
Bilba Durin, nee Baggins, stood gracefully with a hugely swollen stomach. Primula skipped to her cousin, rubbing the bump gently. “Well, lets get the examination done, eh?” It was quickly completed, with Prim confirming that there were indeed four babies, who were all moving and growing as normal, in fact, were quite large. Bilba grinned with joy. “Now dear, what does his majesty think?” Bilba sat up again grinning like a fool, “Thorin? Oh well, its not his fault see? Dwarves only carry one, so he is convinced there's only one and somehow hobbits carry large.” Prim laughed outrageously at this. “And he thinks this crib is so large and there are so many baby clothes because?” “Apparently he thinks i am determined to spoil our solitary child senseless!” The women laughed and smiled, and the month remaining of Bilbas pregnancy flew in too quickly to grasp.

“Come on now sweetheart, you're doing so well-” Thorin sat behind Bilba as she writhed and cried out in pain, in the warm water of a large bath she had had commissioned for the healers quarters, in the area she had paid for as a maternity wing. He had thought it pointless at first, but seeing how regular and numerous the pregnancies were, he decided to defer solely to his queen on matters of fertility and birth. Primula was whispering encouraging words and Bilba suddenly moved only her feet in the deep water, naked, bar a loose fitting shift covering her wet breasts. “Go get them Prim, quickly!” Thorin furrowed his brow and tried his best to calm the birthing hobbit as another contraction took hold. Suddenly the room was filled with his company and his sister who sat on the bench behind his back. “Its almost time, Bilba,” softly smiled her cousin Prim, who started singing to calm the birthing queen. Bilba hummed, calming down. If it wasnt for the occasional squeeze of his hand and the rocking movement she was stopping when the pain hit, he would not have known that his child was making its way into the world. He heard Kili and Fili whispering and caught a glimpse as Dis moved to beside the pool to stroke his wife's hair.  
Bilba moved from humming to clearly singing as Prim nodded to Thorin, notifying him with a serious face, that their child was almost here. In a sudden rush of movement Primula handed him a beautiful little boy, “Bilba, look love-” another flurry and the child was taken by Dis to be replaced by a different little boy. Bilba had tears in her eyes. “My babies! Fili, Kili? Please hold them near Thorin. The other two are taking a bit longer.” The boys nodded solemnly, wrapping the sweet creatures in navy and silver blankets that Dis had had made specially. The sat close to the edge, keeping the twins next to their father. Prim nodded again as the next two children arrived so quickly that they were almost together, two more little boys. Bilba slumped back against her cousin, who whispered in her ear about the afterbirth. Bilba nodded, swallowing the bitter mixture as she moved on shaky legs towards her stunned husband. “Thorin? Look at me, my love?” The king tore his eyes from the four blessings before him, looking at his perfect wife. “Next time we get pregnant, will you listen?” 

The company of Thorin Oakenshield, King under the mountain, accompanied by her royal highness, Dis, to the royal chambers, as they waited for Bilba to return. Dwalin and Balin remained tightlipped, lest a laugh leak out, after their great and powerful leader fainted. “Well, four was a shock! He really didn't believe her, did he?” The elder asked, prodding the semi conscious figure thrown over Dwalins shoulder like a sack of potatoes. “Aye, but i think the mention of ‘next time’ was what pushed him over the edge.” The company roared with laughter and the four little boys slept on, peacefully, as their mother took a quiet moment to compose herself with her cousin. They gathered the afterbirth and buried it in the garden, whispering thanks to Yavanna and Mahal, before entering the royal chambers.  
Bilba looked at her family. Four beautiful boys, all the love from Dis and her boys, not to mention the uncles they had in the company. Yes, she thought, I am truly blessed.


End file.
